You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken. You’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact.” People do fall in love. People do belong to each other—because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage, you built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land—it’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

I remembered this song, this morning. Hadn’t listened to it for a year, or so.

I didn’t love the movie…

but it always does remind me of this one girl I’ve known and loved, as a friend—I have no appetite, nor talent for chasing.

There’s a lot of truth to that last scene: Wherever you go, there you are.

But I’ve always loved the song.

Not so much this version:

But the classic, Mancini and Mercer:

I love it like Mr. Big loves it, but without the help of nostalgia or real memories…

I love to sing it to myself when I’m biking and it comes up in my silly head once a year, like clockwork. It came up this morning.